Good Day In Hell
by gf7
Summary: Helena has anger management issues; this we know. Helena is drawn to darkness. Okay. Well now she has to face up to a nightmare from the past with implications towards her future.
1. 1

TITLE: Good Day In Hell  
  
AUTHOR: Shawn Carter  
  
EMAIL: gfshawn@earthlink.net  
  
DISCLAIMER: DC owns the comic. The WB has temporary custody. Hopefully another net will show some vision and grab at it. No infringement is intended. SUMMARY: We know Helena has anger management issues. We know she's done some rather not so innocent things in her times. And we know that she is hopelessly drawn towards the lawless nature of some. Now she has to face up to a nightmare from the past that could have implications towards the future. RATING: PG-13. Language. Violence. Adult situations.  
  
Music: Title and lyrics are the Eagles.  
  
*****  
  
I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot  
  
I used to stay out till the break of day  
  
Oh, that didn't get it,  
  
It was high time I quit it  
  
I just couldn't carry on that way  
  
Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true  
  
  
  
*****  
  
She kicked out, her foot connecting solidly with his jaw. He groaned and fell back. "This is too easy," she muttered, apparently to no one.  
  
"I'm sorry," the voice came back. "Next time I'll try to find someone for you who's more up to your standards."  
  
"Oracle," Helena Kyle admonished. "Sarcasm will get you nowhere."  
  
"And yet," Barbara Gordon replied dryly. "Hey, you've got an incoming signal from Detective Reese."  
  
"Oh?" Helena asked, trying not to sound too terribly interested. Things had been odd and confused between the two of them as of late. He had picked up on the vibe she had kicked out when he had started talking about the masked vigilante who called himself The Batman.  
  
Her father. And really only Batman.  
  
She had thought they had gotten past that. She had figured that he had gotten over his meta issues. But apparently that idiot psycho cop Morton was still in his head. Just a little bit.  
  
Enough.  
  
"I know you too well, Huntress. That 'oh' doesn't fly with me," Barbara said, practically smiling through the comm.-line.  
  
"I should turn you off," Helena commented.  
  
"Sure but then who would you rant at?"  
  
"Point taken," the blue-eyed crime-fighter replied. "Okay, these guys here are ready for pick-up. So where am I going next?"  
  
"Park and View."  
  
Helena snorted. "You know I always wondered who the genius was who thought it'd be funny to place streets named Park and View right next to each other. I bet he stayed up at night and."  
  
"You think too much."  
  
"Should I take that as a compliment?" Helena asked as she jumped across one of the rooftops. It was exhilarating. It got the blood pumping wildly.  
  
"No," Barbara said with a laugh. "Okay, I'm getting some details. Looks like a murder."  
  
"Ooh. Original. Unusual even for New Gotham."  
  
"And I'm the sarcastic one."  
  
"I see him," Helena said, ignoring her mentor.  
  
"Him as in Reese or the murder victim?" Barbara prodded, amusement in her voice. No matter how much Helena protested, she could tell that the handsome cop was deep under the younger woman's skin.  
  
"The murder victim," Helena snapped back. "You're nosy, you know that?"  
  
"I'm a voice in your ear, Huntress. It's my job to be nosy."  
  
"Well you do it well. Hang on a sec." She jumped down from the roof and moved to stand behind Detective Jesse Reese.  
  
She saw him tilt his head backwards and sigh. His hand went into his pocket and he pulled out a smile pill bottle. He flipped the top and removed two aspirin. He paused for a moment and then took a third. He put them in his mouth and began to crunch down on them. She winced a bit.  
  
"Yuck," she said, leaning against his squad car. He glanced up at her and grimaced. She saw his hand go back to the bottle. She was quicker.  
  
"Hey!" he protested as she took the aspirin bottle from his hand. She turned it over and looked at the label. Then she grinned and tossed it back to him.  
  
"So I should guess you're not happy to see me?" she asked, mock hurt.  
  
"Very smooth," Oracle said into her ear. She could hear typing in the background.  
  
"That depends," Reese commented. "Do you ever just drop in to say hello and hey, how did you sleep last night?"  
  
Helena frowned, "Really don't have time for that. You know, with all the ass-kicking and all."  
  
"Ever wonder why none of your relationships last longer than a couple dates?" Barbara commented. "It could be the constant threat of bodily harm."  
  
Helena snorted.  
  
"Something funny?" Reese queried. He moved to stand beside her and gently urged her off of his hood.  
  
"You have no idea. Okay.so, who's dead?"  
  
"Are you okay?" Reese asked, gazing at her. "You're acting a little bit."  
  
"Chipper for a murder scene?" Barbara put in.  
  
"Odd," Reese finished.  
  
"I'm fine. Just.business as usual. You know." Helena moved away from Reese and over towards the corpse. "How did he die?" She felt suddenly very strange. Almost unnaturally amped and on-edge.  
  
"Mmm, got the hell beat out of him," Reese replied. "And how did you know it was a he?"  
  
"Generic," Helena said. Then she smiled. "Plus my Voice told me so."  
  
"The Voice," Reese said, shaking his head. "This is nuts." He moved back towards the body. "No ID yet. A male somewhere in his 20's."  
  
Helena followed him for a few steps and then stopped. "God."  
  
"Huntress?" Oracle asked quickly, picking up on her protégé's sudden change in mood and attitude. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Huntress?" Reese asked, coming to her side. Her face had gone pale and she looked like she was wavering.  
  
"Falco," she said, her voice very quiet.  
  
"You know this guy," Reese asked, a tint of something unidentifiable slipping into her voice. "Or knew?"  
  
"Yes," she replied. "I.I have to go." She turned from him quickly and began to move away. He reached out for her but she evaded his touch.  
  
"What's wrong?" he called out after her.  
  
He saw her jump and then just like that, she was gone. He blinked, still a bit surprised. He knew that she was prone to abrupt emotional changes but this had taken even him aback.  
  
"Falco. Okay, Falco.who are you?"  
  
******  
  
"Huntress? Huntress?" Barbara called out into her transceiver. "Damn it, Helena.talk to me."  
  
"No," she said flatly. "Going off-line."  
  
"Helena, no!" Oracle cried out. The moment the line went dead, she hit her fist against the table. "Damn."  
  
"Barbara?" Dinah Redmond said, entering from the kitchen. She was holding an oversized sandwich on a plate. Alfred had no doubt constructed the monstrosity. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Helena," she muttered. She took a deep breath. "Some skeletons don't stay in the closet like they should."  
  
Dinah pulled up a chair and sat down. "Talk. Sounds juicy."  
  
Barbara moved quickly away from the girl. "It's not. And it's not mine to talk about." She punched two buttons on a keyboard and the monitor above her flashed the words: Dialing Helena.  
  
The phone rang three times and then the machine kicked on. "Not here. Talk."  
  
"Helena, it's Barbara. When you get in tonight, call me. We need to talk about this. Don't do anything stupid."  
  
Dinah lifted an eyebrow. It didn't take a lot to figure out that whatever Helena's skeleton was, it wasn't just a case of stealing a pack of smokes from the local Texeco.  
  
Barbara disconnected the line and then swung back around. She dropped her head so that it was lying against the pad on the rear of her chair. "Shit," she muttered. Then she glanced at Dinah. "We should work out. It's been awhile."  
  
Dinah shook her head. "Not a chance," she said, just before she shoved the sandwich into her mouth.  
  
Barbara lifted an eyebrow. "We agreed that your workouts."  
  
"Oh right...but not when you're in whatever mood you're in," Dinah said with a laugh. "I may be crazy for wanting to be a superhero but I'm not stupid."  
  
Barbara grunted, "Fine." She spun back to the keyboard. She started punching keys quickly and with a little more force than was absolutely necessary. A picture came up on the screen of a man named Trevor Falco.  
  
"Who's that?"  
  
"The skeleton," Barbara muttered. She clicked on the picture and a file sprang to life. It had numbers stretched across it. And a prison ID. She turned towards another screen where a progress bar was reaching its end. A few seconds later it kicked out several paragraphs related to the new murder victim. There was a lovely black and white photo attached to the file. It showed a corpse with various bruises up and down his body.  
  
"Dinah," Barbara said turning towards her charge. "Shouldn't you be doing something?"  
  
Dinah lifted an eyebrow. "Such as?"  
  
"Uh.I don't know." Barbara admitted, frustration in her voice. "Look.I."  
  
"I'm part of the team, right?" Dinah asked, her voice suddenly very quiet. Barbara nodded. "Okay then, let me help. I get that you don't want to tell me what's going on.even if I should probably know.but let me help how I can."  
  
Barbara sighed. "Okay. Do me a favor then."  
  
"Anything."  
  
"Head over to the bar and see if Helena is there. If she's not, check No Man's Land."  
  
"You're worried about her."  
  
"I am," Barbara agreed. "Very."  
  
******  
  
She slammed the bottle down on the counter and then looked up at the bartended. "Another."  
  
"I think you've had enough," the tall man said, taking the bottle and then moving away from her.  
  
She reached out and grabbed him by the collar. "I'll make that decision, okay?" She yanked his head down towards the bar. "Okay? So another beer, right?"  
  
"Wrong," a voice said from behind her.  
  
She turned. And smiled.  
  
"Detective Reese," she called out loudly. She tossed her arms around his neck. "How is the good Detective?"  
  
"Apparently not as good as you," Reese said with a hint of amusement. He pulled her loose of him and took a long look. "You're ripped."  
  
She smiled. Then she nodded. "I am." She seemed almost proud.  
  
"I should guess then that you're a loud drunk?" Reese asked, reaching into his pocket. He turned to the barkeep. "How much?"  
  
"About thirty."  
  
Reese shot Helena a look of amazement. "Tell me each beer cost ten bucks."  
  
"Not even close," the barkeeper replied with a chuckle. "You a friend of hers?" There was an air of suspicion around him that made Reese guess that the barkeep was well familiar with Huntress. And a bit protective. It crossed his mind that this man probably knew what her real name was. He sighed. Neither the time nor the place.  
  
"Something like that," Reese muttered. He handed the man a twenty and a ten and then looked back at Helena. She was already starting to amble towards the pool table. "Nuh uh."  
  
"What? You gonna play protector guy now?" she goaded. She turned and grinned up at him, looking almost loopy.  
  
"Come on. You need some air."  
  
"Not the only thing," she said with a grin, just a moment before her lips were touching his.  
  
He melted.  
  
And for a long moment, it was just like that. Passionate and hungry. She touched his face and pulled him closer, her fingers stroking his stubbled cheek.  
  
And then he remembered. "Wait," he said, breaking away. "Come on, no."  
  
"Whatever," she said, turning away from him. Then she turned back. "I don't need this shit, Reese."  
  
"Okay, sure.what shit exactly?" he asked, confused. He stepped back and away from her, as if anticipating a tirade.  
  
She motioned wildly. "I can't figure you out."  
  
"Me?" he exclaimed. "You're joking, right?"  
  
"You're hot. You're cold. I'm a thing.what am I, Reese?"  
  
"That sounds loaded," he observed cautiously. "Look, you're not doing so well. Let me get you home." He reached out and took her arm.  
  
She grinned. "Always wanted to get me home, huh?"  
  
"Come on, Huntress," he said with a grunt as he spun around and lifted her up. She laughed loudly as he tossed her over his shoulder. "Can you tell me where you live?"  
  
"Yes," she replied solemnly. "But then I'd have to kill you." She started laughing then. She reached across and nipped his ear.  
  
He closed his eyes for a moment. Then, having collected himself he replied, "My apartment it is."  
  
"Why Detective."  
  
"Shut up, Huntress. Just.shut up," Reese ordered. He strode over to his car and then tossed her into the backseat. He wasn't in the mood to deal with her odd come-ons. No matter how normally receptive he might have been.  
  
His intention had been to unwind. To cool off after a long day. He was still waiting on reports from the murder scene. Still waiting to find out who this Falco guy was. He hadn't been looking for her but apparently this didn't matter; she was with him now.  
  
Falco, he thought. That was when things had turned upside down.  
  
"Of course," he said, looking back at his now fast-asleep passenger. "That's why you're drunk." He sighed. "You are a mystery."  
  
She just snored lightly in response.  
  
TBC. 


	2. 2

NOTES: Someone pointed out that I had missed the part in the pilot about why she was going to see Harley. They were correct. So I fixed that and moved ahead. Hope y'all still dig it muchly.  
  
********************  
  
Reese leaned back against his overstuffed sofa and turned the television on. It blared to life with a beep that resembled the old NES games. A picture appeared a few seconds after the audio.  
  
ESPN.  
  
He put his black socked feet up on the coffee table and took a deep breath. It had been a long night already.  
  
She was sound asleep in his bed, no longer snoring, hell, barely moving. The moment he had dropped her onto his sheets, she had grabbed for his pillow and curled it against it. He had cursed himself for not making his bed and then remembered that in her state, she probably didn't care.  
  
This was all so bizarre. She had been fine earlier, chipper even. She had been playing her typical seduction game and she had been doing it well. Being in her presence was enough to get him humming. And then one look into the dead guys' face and she had gone pale white.  
  
Like she had seen a ghost.  
  
After that it had been lights out.  
  
He had considered trying to find her but had known that his chances were slim and none. If she wanted to get lost, well then she got lost.  
  
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, she hadn't been trying to get lost. At least not in the city. If anything, she had been trying to get lost in herself. Trying to lose herself in whatever nightmare had taken hold of her.  
  
Which was probably why she reeked of alcohol.  
  
The first time he had met her, he had known that she was wild. He had known that she was crazy. And he had known that she would likely be his downfall. He had seen all of that in the first moment that he had looked into her blue eyes.  
  
What he still didn't know however was her name.  
  
He had contemplated trying to run her fingerprints but he had never really had the opportunity. Of course he could have used the ring she had given him but his mind had immediately rejected that possibility.  
  
"You're hedging," he muttered to himself. He opened a bottle of beer and took a deep gulp of it into his mouth. He swigged it around for a moment and then swallowed.  
  
He knew he was hedging. For God's sakes, he had the girl sleeping in his bed. This mysterious, provocative and alluring woman who drove him nuts with just a seductive grin. And now sound asleep in his blankets.  
  
His tore up nasty ass smelly blankets.  
  
He laughed and took another sip from the bottle. She was driving him crazy. Bit by bit. First it was because he never knew when she was near. Then it was because he knew she was always around. And finally it was because she had let down her wall for just a moment.  
  
And damn was she sexy for it.  
  
She had kissed him.  
  
No, best not to go there.  
  
He shook his head. Standing up, he put the bottle down. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and hit the three on it. It beeped seven times and then began to ring.  
  
"Reese?" a voice answered.  
  
"Right, were you expecting me?"  
  
The detective on the other side, Petrick, chuckled. "I was just about to call you. We've got a few more details for you. You might want to come down here."  
  
"Something bad?" Reese asked, dread in his stomach.  
  
"Nah, likely nothing more than a crazy broad offing her abusive ex- honey."  
  
Reese shook his head. "And these are the scum-bags that I'm supposed to care about?" He sighed. "Right, I'm on my way."  
  
He turned the phone off and stuffed it back into his pocket. He moved back towards his bedroom and looked in.  
  
The room was dark but a soft light being cast from the building across the street was shining on her face. She was curled into the pillow, holding it tightly against her. He wondered if that was how she slept every night.  
  
No.and whoa back there, boyo. Best not to go there.  
  
He moved over to the bed and sat down next to her. He had already removed her jacket and her shoes. He brushed a hand over her hair and then smiled. She really was exceptionally beautiful.  
  
Standing up, he pulled the blankets over her. Lying like she was, it was awfully easy to forget how dangerous she was. How strong she was. She just looked like a small child sleeping soundly.  
  
He closed the door to his room and then went over to the kitchen counter. He scrawled a quick note and then grabbed his keys.  
  
"Back to work," he muttered, not wanting to leave at all.  
  
*****  
  
"Well?" Dinah asked, looking over Barbara's shoulder. "What are you looking for?  
  
"Fingerprints," Barbara muttered, looking through a microscope. Then she backed away from it. "Fuck." She ran her fingers through her hair and dropped it against the table. She had panic in her eyes.  
  
Dinah's eyebrow leapt into her hairline. It wasn't like she had never heard Babs curse but for some reason or another, this caught her off-guard. "Problem worse?"  
  
"Much," Barbara admitted, leaning back. "We need to find Helena. Now."  
  
Dinah shook her head, "She still not responding on comm."  
  
"It's still off," Barbara said thoughtfully. She wheeled herself backwards. "Okay then, I guess it's time to track her."  
  
"Using?"  
  
"The chip in her necklace. It has a signaling device in it. If I can."  
  
"Stop," Dinah said, holding up her hand. "Just do it. I'm not going to understand what you're about to say anyways so just do it."  
  
"Right," Barbara said, allowing herself a small smile. She circled back around to the desk and began to type again. She could have done this much earlier but she hadn't wanted to invade Helena's privacy. However with the new revelations from the murder investigation, that wasn't exactly an option anymore.  
  
She continued typing, her fingers flying over the keyboard. A few moments later a map appeared on the monitor overhead. A red dot started beeping in the middle of it. After a few seconds, the dot began to circle the map until it finally stopped.  
  
Barbara lifted an eyebrow. "The Top Down."  
  
"That's a bar?"  
  
Barbara nodded. "Right. It's one that she hasn't been to in a very long time." She turned towards Dinah. "Bring the car around."  
  
"Finding her didn't make you happy."  
  
"Oh I'm glad we found her.I just wish we hadn't found her there."  
  
"You're going to have to explain this all very soon to me."  
  
Barbara looked at Dinah for a long moment. She took a deep breath and then sighed. Slowly, deliberately she replied, "I know. Soon, I promise."  
  
*****  
  
"Your boy here is not the nicest guy in the world," Detective Joe Petrick said as he moved around the corpse lying on the slab. "He's got quite the jacket. Very impressive."  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"Robbery. Assault. Battery. Suspicion of murder. Three times over on that one. Also two arrests for rape. Both charges were dropped because the girls bailed town."  
  
"That's interesting," Reese noted. Girls bailing on rape charges? That usually meant that they were buried somewhere. Life in New Gotham was a thrill a day.  
  
"Very. But the most interesting thing in his jacket is that which probably got him killed."  
  
"Talk to me," Reese said, sitting down. He picked up a cup of water and knocked it back in one shot. Petrick offered him a cigarette but he waved it off.  
  
"About a year ago he was running with some chick. They were apparently pretty well known in the club scene. One in particular. Tossed things up.had a real reputation for causing holy hell."  
  
"Okay, I'm on board so far. Bonnie and Clyde, right?"  
  
"Kinda.only without the robberies. We were never able to pin any actual crimes on these two for the longest time. Until he hurt her."  
  
"Hurt her?" Reese asked, standing back up to look at the corpse.  
  
"Yeah. Tore her up right good with a knife." He reached into the file and handed Reese a handful of colour pictures. "That's her."  
  
"Shit," he muttered. Then he stopped. He leaned closer to one and his eyes nearly bugged out. "Can't be."  
  
"What's that? You know this girl, Reese?"  
  
"Not sure. You got her jacket?"  
  
"Uh huh," Petrick replied, offering it to the taller cop.  
  
Reese opened the file and sighed. Yep, that was her alright. Helena Kyle. He sighed. Nice name.  
  
Then he shook his head, "No, couldn't be.she would have kicked his ass. The girl I know.and this certainly does look like her.would never allow anyone to hurt her."  
  
Petrick shrugged. "You sound like you almost respect her, Reese."  
  
"I almost do," he replied under his breath. "Okay, go on with your story."  
  
"Short story? He puts her in the hospital but she bails after day one. The next time anyone sees her again, she's being arrested for destruction of city property and assaulting a security officer." He chuckled, "She took out a couple of signs and a fire hydrant. Then some old guy tried to place a citizens' arrest on her and she knocked him cold."  
  
Reese rolled his eyes. Somehow that part of the story didn't shock him. "So what happens?"  
  
"Nothing major. She does a week in the lock-up and three months of court- ordered therapy. They can't pin anything else on her. But we know she used to ride with Falco. And he certainly wasn't one of the good guys. One of the detectives on the case tries to get her to squat Falco out and he nearly gets pulverized for his efforts. Only thing that saves the detective from losing a vital limb is that her adopted mom shows up and bails her out. But what we do know for certain is that this girl is wicked pissed about this guy. Crazy pissed. Turns into an animal. The cop really actually thought he was about to die."  
  
Reese titled his head. He could see that. Something in him told him that Huntress wasn't the type of girl who really appreciated being restrained. Or being grilled for information. Or being hurt by some two-bit thug with a knife and too much time. Just the same, there had to be more to the story; she just wasn't the type to allow herself to get abused by some scuzzball guy.  
  
He looked at the pictures again. This would certainly go a long way towards explaining why she had turned ice cold when she had seen Falco's body.  
  
"Hey, what was the name of the bar they used to haunt?"  
  
"The Top Down.it's a little hole in the wall in South Gotham."  
  
"I'm aware of it," Reese muttered, marveling at his fantastic luck. He had passed by the bar earlier that evening and decided that no matter it's ragged appearance, it probably still served the same type of beer that every other bar in New Gotham did.  
  
Things were beginning to fall together but he really wasn't fond of how.  
  
"Okay, so how does all of this relate to Falco being dead?" Reese asked, sitting back down.  
  
"Oh now, that's the fun part," Petrick grinned. He held up a piece of paper with a lot of scientific terms on it. "We have a seven point fingerprint match."  
  
"And?"  
  
"It belongs to Helena Kyle. The ex."  
  
Reese swallowed hard. He took the piece of paper from Petrick and looked it over. "Christ," he muttered. "Oh Christ."  
  
*****  
  
The barkeep looked up at Barbara and smiled, not unkindly. "Ms. Gordon," he greeted. She returned the fondness. The man had spent a lot of time looking out for Helena during a time when Huntress hadn't been doing it for herself.  
  
"Has she been here?" Barbara asked.  
  
"Several hours ago. She left with a man. She seemed to know him."  
  
Barbara wrinkled her nose. "That's odd. Jimmy, have you seen that necklace she wears?"  
  
"This?" he asked, reaching behind the bar. "She dropped it on the way out. It looks like the chain's broke."  
  
"Indeed," Barbara said thoughtfully as she turned the broach over in her hand. The broach had belonged to her mother; it was the one solid thing besides a few pictures and Catwomans' old mask that Helena had of her mom. Barbara had long ago fitted it with a mic so that they could use it as a communication device. She figured that it was going to be there anyways, it might as well be put to good use.  
  
"So who was the guy she left with?" Dinah asked from behind her.  
  
The bartender shrugged. "Never seen him before but she was awfully friendly with him. Of course she was awfully drunk."  
  
"Great," Barbara muttered. "You think you could describe him?"  
  
"Sure. A tall black guy. Dressed well. Looked like a cop to me."  
  
Barbara let out a sigh of relief. "Reese," she said to herself.  
  
"That's it," Jimmy said, smacking his hand against the bar top. "That's what she called him. Detective Reese. Dunno how I forgot that. He paid her bill."  
  
"Hey Jimmy, what did he look like to you? I mean.did he look like he had just come in for a drink and found her or."  
  
"Yeah. He seemed shocked to have found her here," Jimmy replied as he started to wipe down the counter. He sighed as he looked around her. "Great, more cops."  
  
Barbara turned to look. There were two men in ugly coats entering the bar. They were both trying to look inconspicuous and both were failing miserably. One finally got bold and just walked up to the bar.  
  
The taller one of the two had a mustache. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. He thrust it into Jimmy's face. "Have you seen this girl?" He was holding up Helena's mug shot. It wasn't a terribly attractive photo. Helena would have been outraged.  
  
Jimmy shook his head. "Not in a long time."  
  
"What's a long time, pops?" the younger of the two men said. He was chewing gum and managing to be insanely annoying just by being there.  
  
"At least six months. Maybe more," Jimmy replied. He looked towards the doorway and frowned.  
  
Dinah followed his gaze and then turned towards Barbara, "That's Reese."  
  
Barbara turned slightly. "That is Reese?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"I can see why Helena is so interested," she muttered. Then she frowned. If he had been with Helena earlier in the evening, then what the hell was he doing back with the cops while they were trying to find out where she was and if she had been to the bar at all.  
  
Unless he was protecting her.  
  
Barbara searched his face, trying to figure on what was going on in the handsome cops' mind. He seemed a million miles away. Finally he spoke up, "She hasn't been here. Let's go."  
  
The two cops groaned and finally stepped away. One stopped and looked over the bar as if he was sniffing to make trouble. Reese gave him a bit of a shove and they were out the door.  
  
Barbara turned back to Jimmy. "Was that the guy?"  
  
"The very same. The last time I saw him, he was carrying Helena out over his shoulder."  
  
Barbara glanced over at Dinah. "We need to get him alone."  
  
"Barbara, what's going on?" Dinah demanded. "Why are the cops looking for her? What trouble is she in?"  
  
Barbara smiled sadly. "Too much," she assured her. "Too much for even her."  
  
TBC. 


	3. 3

He put his head heavily against the steering wheel and sighed. His skull was on fire. It felt like there were little men inside of it; all of them kicking in tandem. He didn't want to get involved. He didn't want to be part of whatever craziness Huntress had gotten herself into.  
  
Of course it was all entirely too late for that.  
  
By giving her refuge at his apartment he was aiding and abetting a fugitive. Illegal in most states. By not telling his comrades where she was, he was obstructing justice. Not a good idea for a cop. By covering for her, he was getting personally involved. Just a plain bad idea.  
  
He was too close.even he knew that. He actually gave a damn what happened to her. For some reason or another.  
  
"Detective Reese," a soft voice said from the window. Too low to be really alarming but he felt his body arch a bit just the same. He looked up and into the eyes of a tall blonde girl. He blinked; he could swear that he had met the girl before.  
  
"Dinah Redmond," she said by way of introduction. "The case with the suicides that weren't."  
  
"Right," he said nodding. "How could I forget?" How indeed, it had been during that case that he had met the mysterious Huntress. Helena. He shook his head. That was still going to take some getting used to. "What.how can I help you?"  
  
"Huntress," she replied. "We need to talk about Huntress."  
  
His eyes practically popped. Finally he nodded, "Okay. Where?"  
  
"Wherever she is," a woman said, coming from behind. It was a stunningly beautiful redhead sitting in a wheelchair. Her lithe body looked grotesquely out of place confined to the chair and all. The chair however looked to be a thing of scientific beauty.  
  
Reese quickly shook his head. "No dice. I don't know where she is."  
  
Barbara smiled. "You don't recognize my voice, do you Detective?"  
  
He narrowed his eyes. "Should I?"  
  
"Do me a favor and use the ring that is on your hand," she instructed,  
  
He felt like a fool. Rubbing up a damn ring in public. Crazy. Just the same, he did it. And almost immediately he heard a series of loud beeps. He looked up sharply at the redhead.  
  
"You're the Voice?" he demanded, somehow more amazed than he would have liked to have been.  
  
"I am."  
  
"Wait a minute," Reese said, looking over at the passenger seat. Helena's file was sitting there. He picked it up and flipped it open. There was a news clipping in there. Something about a near fatal shooting. "You're Barbara Gordon aren't you? The lady who adopted her.  
  
Barbara sighed, only mildly annoyed that her cover had been blown. "I am. That lady."  
  
"Right," he said nodding. He looked around the side of his car, as if he were ensuring that there were no other cops in the vicinity. "Good.I have a lot of questions for you."  
  
"Can they wait until we get to Helena?" Barbara asked, trying to keep her voice even. She had no burning desire to answer all of the good detectives long contemplated questions.  
  
"Sure," he said. "We can do that. But I do want answers. " He lowered his voice. "I'm putting a lot on the line here and I'm not sure why."  
  
Barbara touched his arm. "All in good time. Please, Detective?"  
  
"Reese," he corrected. "You have a vehicle, no?"  
  
Barbara nodded. "We'll be right behind you."  
  
He sighed. "God, I hope so."  
  
*****  
  
She was sitting on his couch, staring at the blank television when she heard the lock of the door click over. She stood up abruptly and moved behind it so that she could see who was coming in before they saw her.  
  
The door slid open slowly and Reese entered. She exhaled and visibly relaxed. Then she frowned. In his absence she had poached some of his clothes. Flannel pants and a gray tee with the word Yankees across the front. She rather hoped that he wouldn't decide to be irked by it. Really, she'd had no choice. Her clothes from the previous night had been dirty and slept in. Of course the advantage of wearing his threads was the smell. They smelled richly of him. And that was very good.  
  
"Helena?" she heard. That wasn't Reese's voice.  
  
"Oracle?" she said, blinking as she looked around the door.  
  
And sure enough, both Barbara and Dinah were standing there. Looking like drowned rats. Well okay, that meant it was raining again. Wonderful.  
  
"Oracle," Reese muttered, entering ahead of the two women. It only took seconds for his eyes to sweep Helena. "Nice," he said, probably a little more appreciatively than he should have. She offered him a smile, relieved that it hadn't pissed him off.  
  
"Are you alright?" Barbara demanded, gliding over to her. She reached up to touch Helena's face, acting like she was looking for wounds.  
  
Helena moved away. "I'm fine. What are you doing here?"  
  
Barbara rolled her eyes, looking irritated. "You went off comm..I was worried."  
  
"Sorry," Helena said, still moving around. She looked ancy, almost nervous.  
  
Barbara caught her arm. "This is serious."  
  
"I know that," Helena said quietly. She looked up at Reese. "You weren't supposed to bring the 'rents."  
  
He shrugged. "Well, I could have brought the cops."  
  
"What does that mean?" Helena asked, suddenly defensive. She had switched into a combative posture. Instinctively, Reese backed off a few inches.  
  
"That means you're the chief suspect in a murder investigation," he snapped back. His nerves were on edge but he was in no mood to take attitude from her.  
  
"What?" she exclaimed. "Are you nuts?"  
  
"I dunno," he shot back. "I'm actually trying to figure that out for myself. Give me one reason why I shouldn't haul your ass downtown."  
  
"Because you couldn't," she retorted, still tense and ready for a fight.  
  
He pulled out his gun.  
  
"Woah!" Barbara cried out. "Hold on..everyone just take a deep breath."  
  
"You are pushing your luck," Reese informed Helena. "And right now I'm on the line for you so you damn better give me a reason."  
  
"Helena," Barbara said softly.  
  
Huntress shot her a look. "Put the gun down. I've had about enough of you threatening to shoot me."  
  
He shot her a look of amazement. "They really are brass aren't they?"  
  
"Why Detective.why would you think something like that?" she drawled.  
  
Their eyes locked for a long moment. Finally, reluctantly, he re-holstered his weapon. "Talk," he demanded.  
  
"What about?"  
  
"Falco. I want to know why Falco is dead."  
  
"Because he deserves to be, " Helena replied. She looked over at Barbara who was giving her that oh so worried gaze. "What? Am I supposed to be sorry because a dirt-bag like Falco is dead?"  
  
"No," Barbara said. "But you're fingerprints were found on the body."  
  
"No," Helena said shaking her head. "No, no, no." She looked up at Reese. "You really think that of me?"  
  
"We've talked about this," he replied. "I don't know what to think of you." He took a deep breath, "But no.I still don't think you're a killer."  
  
"Good," she said, but didn't seem too eager to continue. She looked down at the ground and scuffed the carpet a bit with her foot.  
  
"Helena," Reese said softly. "I need to understand. They have your prints on the body.unless you can get me going the right direction.there's going to be a full scale search for you by tonight's newscast."  
  
"Have you seen him recently, Helena?" Barbara prompted, sliding her chair around so that she was next to the couch. Dinah had already seated herself.  
  
She shrugged, still looking uncomfortable.  
  
"That's not an answer," Oracle reminded her.  
  
"I saw him a couple days ago. We argued. I bailed. That's it. I sure as hell didn't kill the son of a bitch." Then she smiled, a bit to herself. "It did cross my mind however." She frowned. "In that manner even."  
  
"Did you happen to say this out loud?" Reese asked, reaching behind him. He stopped when he realized that his notepad was nowhere within reach.  
  
Helena shrugged. "Probably. I don't know. Reese, I make a lot of threats" She continued scuffing the carpet, refusing to make any degree of eye contact.  
  
"Look, I need you to take this seriously," Reese said.  
  
"I am," she replied softly. "But I don't know what you want me to do? Cry for him? Care that he's dead? I can't do that." She looked sharply at Barbara. "And don't go starting with that whole we're the good guys and we never wish for death shit. He deserved it. He was a monster."  
  
"What did he do to you?" Reese asked, his voice very low. He took a few steps towards her but wisely moved no further. She was already rattled; that much was obvious.  
  
Helena waved him off. "Old news. I didn't kill him though. I saw him a few days ago.we argued and I bailed. Period."  
  
"I'm gonna need more than that," Reese replied. "We still have your fingerprints."  
  
"And I still didn't do it. You don't seem to be listening so well."  
  
Reese felt his hand twitch, almost like it wanted to grab at his gun. This woman infuriated him at times. Yesterday she had been kissing him and he had had to be the one to push her away. Now she was doing the pushing. "I'm listening but I'm not hearing anything that I don't hear a hundred times a day while I'm grilling scumbags."  
  
"So now I'm a scumbag?"  
  
Reese shot a look over towards Barbara who was sitting, watching almost passively. Dinah was sitting on the couch looking uncomfortable. Like she wished she could be anywhere else.  
  
"A little help here?" he asked.  
  
Barbara sighed. "Helena.we believe you."  
  
She laughed. "That's comforting.you believe me.because I told you I didn't do it. Barbara.you know me better than this."  
  
"I also know you had a very bad relationship."  
  
"And that he hurt you pretty bad," Reese added.  
  
Helena snorted. "No one hurts me. Ever."  
  
"That's funny, "Reese said, starting to get annoyed. "Because I have pictures." He reached into a folder that was sitting on the kitchen counter. "Would you like to see? Maybe it will jog your memory."  
  
"You're an ass," she hissed. She started to move towards the window but seemed almost uncertain of it.  
  
"I'm not trying to be," he protested. "Believe it or not, Huntress, I am just trying to help you."  
  
"Helena, please.just talk to us," Barbara urged. She glanced over at Dinah and for half a second, she contemplated having the girl try to jump into Huntress's mind. It would be effective and the answers would come quickly. However Helena would likely never forgive her for the violation.  
  
"Who is this guy? Why's he got you so freaked out?" Reese asked, sitting down on the arm of the couch.  
  
Helena sighed. "Fine. Fine. Whatever." Then she looked around. "You got booze?"  
  
Reese lifted an eyebrow. "Yeah."  
  
She smiled almost sadly at him. "Get it then. I'm gonna need it."  
  
TBC. 


	4. 4

The brown liquid swished around inside of the glass for a moment or two before finally settling. He wiped off the sides with a tablecloth.  
  
"Will this do?" Reese asked, moving towards her. He offered her the glass. She took it from and nodded slowly.  
  
"Uh huh," she grunted just before she knocked back the entire glass. He lifted his eyebrow in amusement. She just handed him the glass to fill up again.  
  
"Wait," Barbara said softly, reaching out to touch her arm. "Why don't we talk first. You get drunk too easily."  
  
"I do not," Helena Kyle muttered as she slouched back against the couch. Finally she sighed. "Okay. But then I get the whole bottle."  
  
"Deal," Reese said, sitting on the arm of the couch. Dinah was seated on the ground, legs folded beneath her. She looked uncomfortable but very interested. Like she was about to be told a campfire story.  
  
"Falco," Helena said slowly. "He was a very bad decision." She wrung her hands and looked down at the ground. "I wasn't in the best place."  
  
"Why?" Reese asked, trying to be gentle. He reached down to the ground and picked up a discarded baseball that was lying under the coffee table.  
  
"I found out who killed my mother." She looked up at Barbara. "I didn't know for the longest time. She hid it from me."  
  
"I didn't have a choice," Barbara protested. She thought they had gotten past this. Obviously she was wrong.  
  
"I know.I mean I know now that you didn't. I was so angry and I wanted someone to strike out against but you wouldn't tell me then. You waited until you thought I could handle it." She shook her head. "I guess I just felt betrayed."  
  
"You know I never meant for that."  
  
"I know," Helena replied, holding up a hand. "And I'm not angry about that anymore. But I was. There were so many things going on in my head. I guess I just wanted to lose myself."  
  
"I certainly understand that," Reese commented. "We all have our moments."  
  
"This wasn't a moment, Reese. This was rage. Know me long enough and you'll get that."  
  
"I can't wait," he replied dryly. She shot him a look but he just waved her off, his lip quirked upwards into a semi-smile.  
  
"I met him at a bar. I woke up with him in a hotel room. We kinda went like that for a few months. No fuss no muss."  
  
"I had no idea of it," Barbara put in. "I just thought she was constantly tired. She really wasn't talking to me much."  
  
"You couldn't have known.and it wasn't your fault anyways.I just thought it was." She laughed then. "Look, we're getting all twelve-steppy."  
  
Barbara smiled sadly making it obvious that she did believe it to be her fault. It had been a hard time; a nearly unbearable one. New Gotham had been in the strong grip of so much violence and turmoil and she had been distracted. That was no excuse.  
  
"What about Falco? What we he like when you met him?" Reese asked, eyes still locked on Helena. She squirmed a bit beneath his penetrating gaze. "He was smooth. Very smooth. You saw him and you were attracted to him because you just knew that he was bad and he'd make you forget," Helena replied, her mind obviously elsewhere. She looked like she was a million miles away, deeply lost in the past.  
  
"So the sex was good?" Dinah asked, grinning.  
  
Helena laughed. "You know it's not all about sex." She paused for a moment and then shrugged. "Okay usually it is and yes, it was good. In that primal tear the sheets kind of way. Being with him was exciting and enticing.I didn't have to think."  
  
Reese snorted. She looked up sharply at him but he waved her away. "Sorry. Clearing my throat."  
  
"Uh huh. Nice commentary there."  
  
"Falco," he reminder her quickly, feeling the heat overtake his cheeks. He didn't quite know why either.  
  
"Right. He was the kind of guy who seemed to channel your rage. If you told him you were pissed at someone, he gave you twenty more reasons to hate that person. And then he almost made you feel the hate."  
  
Barbara looked away, the pain obvious in her eyes. These were not good memories and momentarily Reese felt bad for unearthing them. That said, he knew full well that he didn't have a choice; if he didn't get the truth about Falco well then he was going to have to take Helena in for his murder.  
  
There was silence in the room for a long beat and then Helena said softly, "I did some things I'm not very proud of." She swallowed hard. "Some of the things they think we did but couldn't prove.we did. I did."  
  
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Reese said, moving over towards the kitchen.  
  
"Pretend away," Helena replied dryly. "It was just robberies though. No one was getting hurt."  
  
"No one hurt like the Animal Gang kind of no one hurt?" Reese asked, returning with a tray of mugs. He offered Barbara a cup of coffee and then Dinah. She of course shook her head in the negative. Probably for the best really; Reese had a feeling that caffeine was no kind of good for the young blonde.  
  
"No.really no one hurt," Helena replied, a bit irked. "Let it go, Reese. I said I was sorry and you know I didn't know."  
  
"Guys," Barbara put in, wondering idly was she was always cast in the role of having to mediate for Helena. "Not helping."  
  
"Sorry," they both said and then looked awkwardly away from each other. Barbara chuckled a bit; these two really were going to eventually kill each other.  
  
Or end up falling head over heels.  
  
Both were of course, utterly insane.  
  
"So what ended the honeymoon?" he asked, pushing the mug of coffee into her hand. She looked down at it and frowned. "It's still brown," he insisted. She favored him with a bit of a smile.  
  
"The honeymoon ended when I realized he was offing people for shits and grins in his spare time." She snorted angrily. "I came home one day to find him showering blood off himself. In my shower. I asked if he was hurt and he said it wasn't his." She looked over at Barbara. "I am so sorry for all of this."  
  
"We can deal with this. We always do," Barbara assured her. She squeezed Helena's hand. She looked up at Reese. "Turns out that he was going back and killing the managers of the banks they were robbing."  
  
"I think I remember that. I was just a beat-cop back then. We never caught the guy or even figured out who it was."  
  
"Well now you can close that case, Detective," Helena muttered.  
  
He turned and looked at her, exasperation on his face. "Well not unless I want to further involve you."  
  
She offered him a knowing smile and then winked at him.  
  
"So, when did you and Falco go separate ways?"  
  
"Well I tried to do it that night." She picked up the folder. "Hence the pictures."  
  
"So he did get the drop on you?"  
  
"Not exactly. I went to the bar. I got a bit toasted. I kind of woke up on the floor of my bathroom." She shrugged.  
  
"She blows it off now. I get a frantic call.the first time I've heard from her in almost a week. Of course one of the patrons at the bar had already called the police."  
  
"Hence the pictures," Reese said, echoing Helena's words. She nodded.  
  
"Falco and I fell out after that."  
  
"Sounds like a short story," Dinah remarked, watching her friend closely. It didn't take a telepath to get that Helena was still holding something back.  
  
"You're observant," Helena muttered. "We had a few more forceful.shall we say.arguments until he and I decided to go our separate ways. I wasn't in the best condition and by the end of our last fight, neither was he."  
  
"You sound proud," Reese noted.  
  
"You've seen the pictures. I don't let anyone do that to me. The son of a bitch tried to bring out the anger in me so I raged on him. Am I supposed to feel sorry for that?"  
  
"I get that but the problem with all of this is.none of it exonerates you. In fact, if anything it implicates you even more heavily," Reese commented.  
  
Helena snorted and held out her hands. "Fine, Detective. Take me in."  
  
TBC. 


	5. 5

Reese blinked, obviously taken aback. "Now wait." he started.  
  
She stepped into his space, moving just inches from him. So close in fact that he could feel her heat on him. It was intoxicating. "What's the matter, Detective, if you're so sure I killed him, why haven't you cuffed me?"  
  
She was challenging him, her anger sparking in her eyes. Her body appeared to be relaxed but he could see the dangerous lilt to it. If pushed, she could spring into action within a moment and perhaps kill even faster.  
  
"I'm not sure," he retorted. "That's what you're still standing here." He sighed. "I believe you when you say you didn't do it but I need to understand more. Your fingerprints are on the body. I'm a cop. I need to make these things add up."  
  
"I know," she said, almost apologetically. It seemed like every time they started to create a bond between them, it was broken by the concept of trust. "Look.the night he was killed.I was.doing something else..."  
  
"What?" Barbara pushed, seeing her protégé's growing frustration.  
  
"I was watching you," Helena muttered under her breath, not looking at Reese.  
  
"Watching me?" he questioned, feeling a flush on his cheeks. He could see the same redness of hers.  
  
She turned her back on him and paced away. "I was watching your back," she amended. "I had a feeling there could be trouble."  
  
"Uh huh," Dinah snorted, finally taking one of the coffee mugs. "Anyone else here NOT buy that?"  
  
"Shut up," Helena said. She snapped off what she hoped was an icy glare. Dinah seemed unaffected if not a bit amused.  
  
"You were watching me?" he asked again, moving closer to her. She had retreated to the far wall of the room. "I was at the station."  
  
"I had a feeling," she insisted again.  
  
"How long where you watching?" Reese asked.  
  
"And can anyone confirm my alibi?" Helena replied, amusement in her tone. He simply stared her down. She squirmed a bit and sighed. "Until you started yelling with the other cop and shut the drapes."  
  
"You saw that?"  
  
"Why did you shut the drapes?"  
  
Reese sighed. "That's another story. A very long story."  
  
"We have time," Helena insisted.  
  
"Helena," Barbara said softly. "Where did you go after you left the police station?"  
  
"That's when you sent me to round up those goons. So a goon-rounding I went. Remember?"  
  
Barbara nodded slowly. "I do. And then Reese called."  
  
"Believe me now?" Helena asked, almost sticking out her tongue.  
  
"I told you I did before," he replied. "But now I got a body with a killer who was framed."  
  
Helena frowned. "Someone tried to set me up. That sucks."  
  
"Your grasp of the obvious is as usual fascinating," Barbara drawled. "Detective, is there a way that I can get a hold of the forensic data for Mr. Falco?"  
  
"I think I can arrange that," Reese replied. Then he shook his head. "I think you're going to end up destroying my career."  
  
Helena snorted. "Blame it on me."  
  
"I do," he shot back. "Okay, look, I need to get back to the station. You stay put."  
  
"You.want me to stay here.at your apartment?" Helena teased.  
  
"Uh.uh.it doesn't have to be here," Reese replied, obviously flustered. "Just be.be around."  
  
"Here it is," Helena grinned, dropping back down to the couch. "You have plenty of good liquor and I've known held up my part."  
  
"So you're gonna get drunk?" Dinah asked. "I'm so staying." She looked up at Barbara's disapproving look. "I mean I'll keep watch."  
  
"Great," Barbara replied dryly. "Two lushes." She looked at the two of them. "I'll be back at the Clocktower."  
  
"I'll watch the kid," Helena grinned. She winked at Reese. "Find out who's poaching my fingerprints, huh? It kinda pisses me off."  
  
Reese shook his head. He looked at Barbara. "Come on, I'll get you those files on Falco."  
  
*****  
  
"Somehow I never saw you getting into a bad relationship with a guy. I guess I always figured you for the queen feminist," Dinah said, eyes on the TV.  
  
"Hardly," Helena said with a laugh as she tossed a handful of popcorn into her mouth. The two of them were seated on the carpet in front of the couch watching Saturday Night Live on Comedy Central. Most of the lights in the apartment were off allowing for only the soft glow from the TV. Two glasses sat next to the oversized bowl of popcorn that rested between the two girls.  
  
"Hardly?" Dinah pushed. "Come on, you kick ass. You kick men's' asses.and you get off on it."  
  
"I do, don't I?" Helena grinned, wrinkling her nose a bit.  
  
"So."  
  
"It was a bad decision," Helena admitted. "Barbara and I were getting rough with each other. I was pretty pissed about her holding back.and then I was just generally pissed. I didn't want to be a superhero."  
  
"Can't imagine that."  
  
"Now," Helena replied. "Now you can't imagine that. But it does get to you. And you either got to get over it getting to you or you start getting pissed off. I chose to get cranky."  
  
"So you hooked up?"  
  
"That's rather simplistic don't you think?"  
  
"You tell me," Dinah replied, making like she was about to slap Helena's hand away from the popcorn bowl. "You've already eaten most of it," she said by way of explanation.  
  
"Oh whatever.if you stopped putting entire handfuls in your mouth with each bite then this bowl might have lasted longer than the last three."  
  
"I think you're drunk," Dinah laughed.  
  
"Can't be. Remember." she held up the glass to reveal a light bubbling brown liquid. Coke.  
  
Dinah grinned. "So.why was it simple?"  
  
"Because I got to be angry and I didn't have to be good. And I got to be who I thought I was. I got to rage and no one could stop me." She shook her head. "Anger is so easy. So is hate."  
  
"You hated Barbara?"  
  
"I wanted to. I don't know if I ever did." She shrugged. "I kind of don't want to go there. Okay.if you spill anymore of that on me, I'm gonna kick your ass."  
  
"You and what army," Dinah challenged. "I mean before I tossed your butt against the wall."  
  
"Getting awfully cocky with your powers aren't we?" Helena replied.  
  
"What can I say, I learn from the best."  
  
"Now you're just flattering me."  
  
"Is it working?"  
  
"Flattery always works," Helena replied with a laugh. She took a deep breath then and grew deadly serious. "I don't know if I hated Barbara then or if I hated myself. I hated the Joker, I know that.but I went looking for the biggest monster that I could find so that I could understand."  
  
"And did you?"  
  
"No," Helena replied, shaking her head. "Falco was a creep but he wasn't a monster like the Joker. He was just a little man who liked to hurt other people a lot. And those other people included anyone close to him. He liked to play games but he was never good at them. I let him hurt me. Part of me wanted to hurt because it allowed me to hate."  
  
"And hate is easy."  
  
"Right. You're getting this," Helena said, offering a small smile. "The day I woke up in the bathroom and realized that I was the only one to blame for where I was.it kinda messes with you. You see yourself different. You start realizing how easy it is to become everything you hate."  
  
"So Barbara."  
  
"She came a'running. Just like she always does. She didn't act like I'd wounded her anything. She just trusted me again. You know I spent that first year working my ass off to get her trust back.she never stopped."  
  
"She's amazing."  
  
"That she is," Helena confirmed. Then she frowned at Dinah as she watched popcorn hit her lap. "Okay. Turn off your powers and prepared to get beat down."  
  
Dinah grinned. "Bring. It. On."  
  
TBC. 


	6. 6

Her fingers flew deftly over the keyboard, sliding off the plastic with just enough force to allow the letter to be recognized by the system. A stream of words appeared on the screen as she typed. Every search engine on the internet began to work it's proverbial ass off to complete the demanded functions.  
  
She turned slightly, just enough to examine another screen that was filled with different coloured bars. Each was reading out a DNA structure. Right smack in the middle of the monitor was a fingerprint. Helena's.  
  
The one the police was using to say that she had killed Falco.  
  
Barbara Gordon lifted her soda up to her mouth and took a quick sip. She was tired and her body ached. She had been starting at the same set of screens for almost four hours. There wasn't a single part of her that didn't believe that her young charge was innocent but she lacked the evidence to prove it.  
  
Which meant that there was more work to be done.  
  
Helena was her family, practically her daughter. She wasn't about to give up on her. No matter what.  
  
She heard a loud wail and then several beeps. She spun towards the comm board. "What's up?" she asked as she opened the line.  
  
"Just checking in on Nancy Drew central," Helena chirped, sounding like she was in a much better mood. Well that was good. Helena in a negative mood was always bad. It was what had started this whole mess.  
  
Among other things.  
  
It had been such a long time ago and Barbara Gordon might have even forgotten about it if not for Falco's sudden murder. She certainly wanted to.  
  
Those had been bad times. Perhaps the word bad simply wasn't strong enough. Everything had been falling apart. Days, even weeks had gone by without her seeing Helena. Barbara had spent entirely too much time locked away in the solitude of the Clocktower with only Alfred to keep her company.  
  
And the depression had finally settled in.  
  
Big time.  
  
When she had been shot in the back, she had wanted so desperately to sink into the pit of black despair that had been constantly threatening to overtake her. She had wanted to let it. But that hadn't been very possible thanks to Helena.  
  
The scared and angry child had needed someone to keep her sane. She had needed a hand because otherwise she wasn't going to get up again. She had needed family. Barbara had stepped in.  
  
Maybe it had partly been for herself so that she had something to keep her mind off of her own pain and anguish. Her body had been in agony and she had barely been able to lift her head but she had had herself a mission, to help Helena. Mostly though it had been because of the need to carry on Bruce's work. Even through his daughter. That work of course had become so much more important.  
  
And because of that, she had gotten through the worst time in her life and she believed that she had helped Helena through hers.  
  
That was of course until Helena had found out that Barbara had been holding back on her. The anger had been sudden and unfocused and she had begun to spin like a goddamn circus wheel. Their bond of trust had been shattered into so many pieces of small fragile glass.  
  
Their fights had been many until it had looked like they would never recover. Helena had moved out and made her intentions clear; she wasn't coming back.  
  
And Barbara had begun to sink.  
  
"Barbara?" Helena said suddenly, drawing the former Batgirl back to the present. "Hello?"  
  
"Sorry, sorry," Barbara said quickly. "I guess I drifted."  
  
"I'll say. And thanks for doing it while I'm on the phone," Helena cracked. She heard a thud in the background.  
  
"What was that?" Barbara asked with alarm. She ran her fingers through her tangled red hair and sighed. She needed a shower. Badly.  
  
"Dinah hitting the.hang on.ground." There was another thud and then a laugh.  
  
"Are you wrestling?" Barbara asked, with a hint of amusement. She supposed that she could be irritated. After all, they were clearly enjoying themselves while she was slaving away in front of her computer trying to clear Helena of murder. She would have been very justified indeed if she has been pissed as all hell.  
  
But she wasn't.  
  
In fact she found herself to be more than a little relieved to hear the mirth from the two girls. Helena was only twenty-three and Dinah was just sixteen. Too much pain could drag you to a very bad place. Helena was intimate with that place now so the idea that she had broken free of it was a great relief indeed.  
  
"Yes," Helena admitted just before there was another thud. "She's a scrapper."  
  
"Glad to hear it. And no, I haven't found anything yet."  
  
"Hey wait," Helena called out to Dinah. She coughed to clear her throat. "Look, get some sleep. This thing will still be there in the morning."  
  
"I can't," Barbara admitted. "It worries me."  
  
There was a long uncomfortable pause and then Barbara heard the sound of scuffing. Like Helena was moving between rooms. "Hey," Helena said, her voice very soft. "I'm sorry."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"Don't be like that," Helena admonished. "I was a monster to you and you never held me responsible."  
  
"It's the past," Barbara insisted.  
  
"It's obviously not," Helena replied. "Somehow or another, this thing has come back to get me. Some come on, let me get this out."  
  
"You really don't need to," Barbara replied, her voice very low. There was simply too much pain in this conversation. Not necessarily bad feelings but definitely hurt ones.  
  
On the day when Helena had stormed out of the Clocktower, she had felt like she was about to collapse. Her legs were already useless but she had never felt pain like she had in those moments. It had been true horror.  
  
Helena let out an impatient sigh. "You're a saint, Barbara. You're not this much. I know you were seriously pissed off at me. I know I let you down."  
  
"We've gotten over that," Barbara replied.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" Helena snapped. She took a deep breath. Getting pissed off at the person you were trying to apologize to was never the right way to get anything done.  
  
"I just think that this is better left in the past."  
  
"Fine, then let me be selfish," Helena begged. "Let me apologize for myself. I was terrible. I treated you horribly." There was a pause. "After my mom, you've been the only other person who has always believed in me. We were a family and I walked out on us."  
  
"You were angry," Barbara said softly.  
  
"I know I was. That's no excuse but you let me right back in. Why?"  
  
"Because we're family. You said it yourself. Family fights."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"That's it. You always think that I saved you. You have no idea how much you saved me."  
  
Silence hung in the air between them for several long moments.  
  
"Okay," Helena said finally, her voice nearly choked with emotion. "Okay. Get some sleep, okay? Please. I'll be fine in the morning. Unless Reese changes his mind, I'll still be here in the morning."  
  
"Sure," Barbara said, finally relenting. Her body hurt enough that the idea of hitting her sheets wasn't totally unacceptable. Not to mention being mentally worn down. Sometimes a trip down memory lane was no fun at all.  
  
Helena touched her ear. "Goodnight."  
  
"Goodnight," Barbara replied.  
  
*****  
  
He leafed through the files, his fingers repeatedly catching against the rough paper edges. He even had the cuts to show for it. Five hours of staring at the same case file and he was still coming up empty.  
  
He believed her. Helena Kyle had not murdered Falco. But someone sure as hell wanted the police to think she had. Someone had an axe to grind and they meant for Helena to rot in a prison cell because of it.  
  
"You should get some rest," McNally said, coming up from behind him. "We'll get this crazy chick eventually."  
  
"Sure," Reese muttered. Then he looked up. "Does it both you how much manpower we're putting in to catching whoever offed this prick?"  
  
McNally lifted an eyebrow. "This doesn't sound like you. You're Mr. By The Book or Not At All. Something bugging you?"  
  
"What can I say? I'm not much for guys who beat on women," Reese said dryly.  
  
"None of us are but he's still dead and we have to find out who killed them. And if his ex did it, then she has to pay for it."  
  
"Hasn't she already paid for being his ex?"  
  
"That was her choice, Reese."  
  
"And you never make bad choices?"  
  
"Why do I get the feeling that this is personal for you? Because you know better than that."  
  
Reese nodded slowly. "I know, I know. And it's not. You know, just a lot of crazy things on my mind. That's all."  
  
"Right. Okay. That had better be all."  
  
"It is," Reese assured him. "Go home."  
  
"I'm out. You get some sleep. Don't let this get to you."  
  
"Sure," Reese promised. He waited until McNally had left the room and then opened one of the files. Inside was the picture of Helena that had been taken on the day of the beating. "Too late," he muttered. "Way too late."  
  
TBC. 


	7. 7

She woke up screaming at just after four in the morning. Sweat hung to her and her body trembled just a bit. She placed a flat palm against her chest and exhaled deeply. After a few long moments, her breathing returned to normal and her eyes faded back to their normal blue.  
  
"Helena?"  
  
She blinked and turned, realizing that she was lying in an oversized bed that was not her own. This alone wasn't exactly alarming but that she recognized the voice was. She turned slightly and quirked her lip. "Dinah?"  
  
The small blonde was lying next to her under the marble colored sheets. She was leaning up on her elbow. The oversized mans' shirt she was wearing dwarfed her. There was a look of deep worry in her pale blue eyes. "Are you okay?"  
  
Helena tried to smile at her but couldn't quite get there. Finally she settled for patting the side of the bed. It wasn't a motion meant to entice to Dinah to move closer but rather one meant to insist that she was just fine. All was well with the world. Hunky damn dory.  
  
Perhaps Barbara was right; she wasn't too great of a liar. Only she knew better. The amount of things Barb didn't know about far exceeded that which she did.  
  
"Fine, kid," Helena replied. Dinah shot her a look and then pushed up and out of the bed. Then she turned back towards Helena and grinned.  
  
"You know this is the first time I've ever slept in a mans' bed." Her eyes were twinkling mischievously.  
  
"I'm so excited for you," Helena drawled. She stretched out her limbs and yawned. It was almost catlike in it's raw grace. Looking around, she took in the darkness of the room and the spots of moonlight that were hitting off the furniture. Then she paused. "Man?"  
  
"Reese. We're in Reese's apartment," Dinah reminded her. "Remember? Falco?"  
  
Helena groaned and fell back. "You had me smiling at the first part but great, hey there's the rest. Psycho ex ends up dead and manages to get me framed in the process. You know, right now I love him just a little bit more."  
  
"You're still angry," Dinah said softly. She dropped back down onto the bed and stretched herself out. It was simply too damn early to be up and around.  
  
"This boy really doesn't know how to decorate, does he?" Helena asked, smirking as she looked around the bare walls. There was a poster of Lou Gehrig on the east wall but everything else was just cracked white paint.  
  
"He's a cop. What do you expect?" Dinah replied dryly. She kept her eyes locked on Helena.  
  
"Yes, I'm still angry," Helena finally answered. "It was a bad decision. I've made a lot of those."  
  
"Barbara and Reese will pull you through this," Dinah assured her.  
  
"That's just it though; I hate having to be pulled through something. I've always gotten myself by. Sometimes not so successfully but just the same."  
  
"It's okay to depend on others," Dinah told her.  
  
"You know sometimes I don't get you. You've been through hell too. But you still trust everyone. I barely trust anyone. I had a cat for three days but I watched him like a hawk too."  
  
Dinah shrugged. "I've had you and Barbara in my head for so long now. It's hard not to trust the two of you. I know you."  
  
Helena lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I've been having dreams about the two of you since I was a little kid. I've seen some of your worst moments." She chuckled. "I've seen a few of your shall we call them dangerous ones as well."  
  
"Not sure I like that," Helena muttered. "But you didn't see any of the Falco situation?"  
  
Dinah shook her head. "You weren't calling out."  
  
"Don't know what that means."  
  
Dinah took a deep breath. "Sometimes people scream out for help. Sometimes they desperately need help but they don't think so. You never felt out of control with Falco, did you?"  
  
Helena shook her head. "I'm always out of control. Most of the time I like it." She shrugged noncommittally. "Sometimes I don't."  
  
"I know," Dinah said quietly, not caring to elaborate.  
  
Helena wrinkled her brow and gazed deeply at her blonde friend. She wasn't terribly used to getting into deep conversations with anyone besides Barbara and even those she tried to stay away from as often as possible. But even more than that, as a general rule, she tended to do very little talking while lying in a bed. She shook her head and sighed.  
  
"What?" Dinah asked.  
  
"I was just thinking about what you said. Then I was thinking about beds." She frowned. "You've seen some pretty nasty things, haven't you?"  
  
Dinah looked down at her hands. "You've been through some pretty bad times."  
  
The two of them let the silence hang in the air for several long minutes. Finally, anxiously, Helena shifted in the bed.  
  
"He chose nice sheets."  
  
"He did," Dinah agreed, running her fingers over the dark cotton. She was well aware of the awkwardness that hung in the air, nearly suffocating it.  
  
Helena yawned and fell back on the bed, using her long legs to sweep the sheets back up towards her. "More sleep. Must have more."  
  
"What were you dreaming about?" Dinah asked suddenly, turning to face Helena. "I mean before when you had the nightmare."  
  
The brunette crime fighter blinked. "It was just a dream," she said softly.  
  
Dinah cocked her head. "You don't seem like the type to have 'just dreams' very often."  
  
Helena lifted an eyebrow. "Well I don't. Some of my dreams are very very good if you know what I mean." She winked at Dinah and then tossed her a sly grin.  
  
Dinah blushed. "I don't and you're very bad," she said with a laugh.  
  
"I am," Helena agreed. It felt good to make light of something that had always been one of her tragic flaws. Her wicked side had always gotten her into trouble. It would likely always continue to do so.  
  
"So you're not going to tell me what you dreamed about, are you?"  
  
Helena paused. "Are you going to tell me what you saw about me that has you more than a little freaked out?"  
  
"I didn't say I was freaked out," Dinah said softly.  
  
"But you kind of are, aren't you? My head's not a great place to be but I usually don't get too scared. If something I did caused me to call out, like you said, then it must have been fairly serious shit."  
  
Dinah just smiled sadly. "Yeah," she said. "Maybe another time."  
  
"That works for me," Helena admitted, quietly thankful that Dinah hadn't wanted to talk about it. There was a lot in her past that could have sent up the red flags and not a one of those events was something that she had any desire to revisit. "So to sleep then. I imagine it's going to be a long day."  
  
Dinah nodded slowly. "I'll try not to snore."  
  
Helena snorted. "Good luck at that."  
  
*****  
  
Reese slammed his hand against the wall. Pursing his lips he turned back to glare at the man standing in front of him. "Start over. Start from the beginning. And try making sense this time or so help me God."  
  
The man held up one of his hands. "No need to continue the threat, Detective. I was just getting to the good stuff."  
  
Reese coughed. "That'd be a first, Jody. Everything that comes out of your mouth smells bad. All the way down to the garlic."  
  
"I had pizza," Jody Rhames replied. He ran a shaky hand through his scruffy hair. Reese could see that the guy was pretty strung out. Probably on another bender. And filled to the gills with heroin. Lovely that.  
  
"I bet," Reese replied impatiently. "Can we get back to what I came here for?"  
  
"Draco?"  
  
"Right. Draco. Talk to me about him."  
  
"He hasn't been around too much lately," Jody said with a yawn. "But he came by about three days ago. He was in a pretty good mood."  
  
"Any clue why?"  
  
Jody shrugged. "It's Falco. Nobody knows what goes on inside that guy. He's crazy loco you know?"  
  
"They're the same word," Reese sighed. "Okay, did he say anything?"  
  
"Not really. Something about a chick."  
  
Reese reached across and grabbed the front of Jody's torn green shirt. He lifted the druggie up into the air. "Okay, this is where I need you to concentrate."  
  
"Kinda hard to do that while I'm choking," Jody coughed out. His eyes were wide. He had known Reese for a very long time because of his Hawke family connections. The little man had run more than a few jobs for Reese's old man and thus had also becomes a rather invaluable resource for the young cop. Which was the sole reason that he wasn't sitting in a cell somewhere. Quite the trade-off.  
  
This however was the first time that Reese had ever threatened him and actually meant it. That was what cops did; they kicked around the scum, played a few mind games and then got their answers. The cops knew that and so did the scum and it worked just right that way.  
  
But Reese was no longer playing.  
  
When he had stepped into the condemned apartment building, the first words out of his mouth had been about Falco. And he hadn't been in the mood for bullshit.  
  
"Try harder," Reese insisted. "Give me something and I'll put you down."  
  
"He was talking about some bitch ex of his," Jody spat out between ragged coughs. His skin was beginning to flush.  
  
"Okay," Reese said as he dropped the man to the ground. He bent down next to him and helped him breathe by rubbing his back. "Did he say a name?"  
  
"I don't remember," Jody insisted. He looked up at Reese. "He said she was gonna miss him though." He shook his head. "After all the stories I've heard about her and what he did to her, I can't imagine that."  
  
"Yeah," Reese agreed. "Me neither." He stood up and brushed his pants off. He reached into his pocket and pulled several bills out. He pressed them hard into Jody's hand. "Get some food. Skip the heroin for tonight."  
  
Jody nodded quickly. "Sure, of course."  
  
Reese just smiled at him sadly knowing full well that within the hour, Jody would be shoving another needle into his already tore up veins. He patted the man on the shoulder and then made a break for the crumbled door of the apartment building.  
  
He stepped out into the icy night, his mind whirling. Going to see Jody had just been a crazy thought on his part. Getting this much information wasn't anything he had expected.  
  
He pulled his cell out of his pocket. He dialed a number quickly and then pressed the phone to his ear.  
  
"Oracle," a voice said suddenly.  
  
He blinked. "You actually sound awake," he observed. He glanced at his watch and saw that sunrise was about twenty minutes away.  
  
"I'm actually sleepwalking," she cracked. He could hear typing in the background. "Did you find anything?"  
  
"Did you?" he returned, smiling a bit. He continued fishing in his pockets, looking for something to put in his mouth.  
  
"Maybe. I'm not sure. I'm still looking over all of the coroner's reports. I should know in a few hours. You?"  
  
"Did you just yawn?" he asked as he shifted feet. Then he chuckled. "I talked with a source of mine that used to know Falco. They ran in the same circle."  
  
"Can you trust him?"  
  
"I think so. He pretty much counts on me to keep him nice and drugged up," Reese said with bitterness. There were things that he would always kick himself for and enabling Jody's drug use just so that he could keep an ear to the ground was one of them.  
  
Barbara seemed to understand. "Okay," she said softly. "Go on."  
  
"He said our boy Falco was in a few days ago. Around the same time that Huntress said she had her run-in with him."  
  
"Okay. That's interesting but not all that helpful," she said shortly. She immediately chastised herself. She was definitely sleeping on her feet and it was beginning to show.  
  
"Wait for it," he advised with a slight chuckle. He shook her head. "I see where she gets her impatience from."  
  
"You have no idea," Barbara said with a dramatic sigh. "I'm sorry. Go on."  
  
"Apparently he was making a big deal about how his ex was going to get what she deserved and how she was going to miss him."  
  
"Now that is interesting," Barbara said, perking up a bit.  
  
"I thought you'd think so," Reese replied with a nod. Finally realizing that his pockets were empty, he pulled his hands out. He rubbed them roughly together and blew into them.  
  
"You think he set her up?"  
  
"I think maybe those reports just became a little more important," Reese offered. "I don't know though. I mean, I hear stories but is what we're guessing at even realistic?"  
  
Barbara snorted loudly. "You have no idea, Detective."  
  
"Then I guess I leave it in your capable hands," he replied.  
  
"I'm on it. Are you heading back to your apartment?"  
  
"No," he said shaking his head. "I'm sure they're both sleeping and Lord knows she could use the rest. She seems pretty raw."  
  
"She does," Barbara agreed thoughtfully. "And she is."  
  
"I'm gonna return to the shop and try to turn over a few more stones. I'll check in with you later today."  
  
"Sounds good," Barbara replied. She stifled a yawn behind her hand.  
  
"I heard that," he smirked.  
  
"No, you didn't," she protested lightly. Then she sighed, "I'll be in touch."  
  
"Is good." He took the phone away from his ear and sighed. He turned slightly to his left and his eyes caught on a large blinking sign. Then he smiled. "Coffee."  
  
TBC. 


End file.
